Pine-Richland students recognized in scholar program

Nine Pine-Richland High School seniors are being named semifinalists in the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Corp. program.

They include Kevin Frenz, Ethan Jancy, Nicholas Labuda, Eliana Lazzaro, Tadg Manna, Andrew Ni, Jeffrey Ock, Anabel Peasah and Amish Sethi. They are among 16,000 semifinalists in the 67th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

In addition, seniors Audrey Dekunder, Matthew Farmar, Christopher Fisher, Rand Hasan, Robert Helmsen, Patricia Holmes, Negein Immen, Ayden Lamparski, Colby Ohlund, Colin Ohlund, Justin Puthenpurayil, Jessica Stella, Callie Stoltz and Carolyn Williams were named commended in the scholar program.

These students are being recognized for their outstanding work on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). Semifinalists have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $30 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a merit scholarship award, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level of the competition.

About 95 percent of the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing, and approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.